A little book to kick start your creativity tips & tricks ideas & inspirationPVN 6 Colouring Tricks & Tips 1. At Breaking Point? If the lead keeps breaking, try turning the sharpener instead of the pencil — it puts less pressure on the lead. 2. Say goodbye to smudges Clean your eraser regularly to avoid a smudgy mess. Rub the eraser on your desk or a blank sheet of paper until all the black or coloured areas have disappeared. 3. Symmetry Rules If you are colouring a pattern or something symmetrical like a butterfly, try cluster colouring all the matching sections one after the other. For example, if you are colouring a butterfly in red, pink and purple, colour all the red bits first, then the pinks etc... 4, Raid the cupboards! Try using eye shadow instead of chalk pastels for large back- grounds, baby oil as a blending solution and hairspray as a fixative. Remember, TEST these things in a sneaky spot in your book before diving in! 5. Warm-up! Blender Pencils work best when they are warm and can smoosh the colour around easily. Hold the nib of the blending pencil in the palm of your hand for 30 seconds before using and make sure it’s nicely warmed up. 6. Blender Stump Clean up A dirty blending stump will contaminate your colours, so always give them a quick clean before using with baby oil or blending solution. Lay a sheet of sandpaper on your desk then gently ‘sharpen’ the nib by sanding off the dirty area. doh . hana, y 2 7 Nia (\ay RQ ~ World of Flowers Johanna Basford10 Bits of Creative Kit I use Everday 1. Staedtler Mars Rotary Pencil I like a 0.5 size with a B lead. Smooth lines, nice to draw with. 2. Staedtler Pigment Liners These pens aren’t expensive but produce beautiful, smooth, perfectly black lines. I like a 0.2. 3. Daler Rowney Layout Paper Your pencil or pen will glide over its smooth surface — the perfect draw- ing paper! I like an A8 sized pad. 4, Helix Compass I've had this since school! A basic tool that allows me to draw practically perfect circles by hand. 5. Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser Lifts graphite neatly, without smudging or tearing the paper. 6. Faber Castell Polychromos Pricey, but oh so wonderful! These colouring pencils are soft, highly pig- mented and easy to blend. A less expensive but still great option are Staedtler Ergosoft pencils. 7. Sakura White Jelly Roll Pen A white gel pen that is perfect for highlights and white details. 8. Derwent Blender Pens Colourless pens that allow you to blend and smooth coloured pencil. Best blenders I’ve ever used! 9. Derwent Battery Eraser Sounds overly fancy, but this clever tool allows for precise erasing. Love it! 10. Staedtler Mars Double Hole Sharpener Another from Staedtler! Great low cost sharpener that you can throw in your pencil case. Johanna BasforFlower Drawing Tutorial Here’s my simple step by step formula for drawing a flower. Sketch steps 1 - 7 in pencil, then draw over your pencil lines in pen, adding inky details. When the ink has dried, gently erase the pencil lines below. Ta da! Add 2 more, left and right side 1 2 3 O Si COO Draw 2 petals, An easy start! top and bottom 4 5 6 Now add a petal in each gap oat one side of 7 “ ines the 7 8 Grab your fneliner pen and redraw in ink! Now a couple more leaves to finish the sketch Johanna Basford X